In Flight

After much anticipation, Mopsy and I flew to Alaska with my oldest brother, Andrew, and his family. This is only my mom's second time on a plane (the first was a flight to Minnesota when my sister Becky had her first baby). I've flown a handful of times, but I've had a long stint planted solidly on the ground--about 7 years, I think.

Needless to say, we were excited.

I'm blogging now while we're still in Alaska to share our experience vicariously with those Johnsons still in the Lower 48. I'm warning you, though, that these posts will likely be picture-heavy and word-light. [I'm in Alaska, for Pete's sake...you really expect me to blog like a fanatic?! No, I think not.]

Also, a neat aside: I spent a great deal of time this spring with my ELA students doing an in-depth Alaska unit. We read a novel, we wrote essays, we researched, we picked apart stereotypes, we skyped my brother Andy during our lunch period. Skyping Andy was probably the highlight. He came on screen wearing a fox fur and sealskin hat and beaver mittens. My kids were just a little taken aback by this crazy Alaskan brother of mine. That's Andy for you. He told them he was going to take me salmon fishing, so now I'm duty-bound to bring back a boatload of pictures for the fall (and maybe a salmon, to boot).

Anyway, the whole passel of us took off from the Syracuse airport. Here are a couple shots from the airplane.

Mom was thoughtful and a bit apprehensive at first. Flying--and this whole experience, really--has brought on some pangs for Dad. We've had an equal share of sheer delight, though.

Flying over Queens. We were supposed to be able to see Lady Liberty, but she was nowhere to be seen. Elusive, that one.

After layovers in NYC and Minneapolis, we took the neck-achingly long flight to Anchorage. Alaska, here we come!